Lady Luckless
by unlikelycorner
Summary: Apparently Cockroach was not a good enough name. She lacked the essentials. Ghost/f!Roach. Drabbles of moments in the life of Sgt. Marie "Roach" Sanderson while on The Task Force 141. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 with the premise of: what if Roach was a woman? Slight AU. Complete!
1. Roach

The Task Force 141 called her _Roach_.

Not only because of her seemingly innate ability of getting in trouble and more importantly - coming out of it alive, but also because _cockroach_ was not a good enough name.

"You don't have a cock, you see." Ghost had explained, a smirk plain in his voice. She was plenty used to hear all manner of shit coming out of soldiers' mouths but somehow the way Ghosts' accent wrapped around the words, made it sound downright filthy.

She had rolled her eyes, "Right. I still have more balls than the lot of you."

Following this proclamation, male laughter rang in many different voices, but it wasn't mocking. They all knew it to be true and that she had saved their asses that day.

Freshly baptized as Roach by The One Four One, she gulped the rest of the cold beer in her hand and promptly ignored how easily balls could be translated to crazy, in their world.

But it worked, somehow.

* * *

A/N: This little fic is completely and utterly self indulgent!  
Wrote most of it a while ago and picked it up again a sometime ago. It's all written!  
I honestly don't even enjoy Call of Duty that much, their thing is more 'gunsgunsguns' and while that's fun, I'm more of a story + character development kind of gal, so I become sad whenever I think about the potential some characters in COD: MW2 had. And the lack of women. ;)  
This will be 9 chapter total!


	2. Puzzle Pieces

They fit each other, in a weird way.

It was hard to say who had been more surprised by that, if she or Simon.

Truth was when she got out of the helicopter, meeting the top ranking officers of the Task Force for the first time, the only thing that had gone through her head while she shook his hand was the weirdness of the skull balaclava.

Not because he was wearing it, exactly, but because he was wearing it off-duty. Or as off-duty as it got in The One Four One.

Didn't he get hot underneath it? The temperature was anything but cold, where they were.

The first time she saw him without it, she didn't know who he was before he spoke. A wild thought crossed her mind: he didn't _get_ hot at all, because, honestly, he _was_ hot.

Rebel thoughts aside, she had found his company comfortable.

And they clicked.

The whole Task Force clicked, in fact. It was exhilarating to work with such a good team. They functioned like a well-oiled machine, even when things went bad, and more often than not they went really badly, especially when she was involved.

But Ree and Simon, they clicked differently. More profoundly, more soul to soul.

Simon had not been expecting that either. After all he had gone through, he had lost the hope of finding someone like that.

He was immensely pleased that he had a good team and he hadn't been searching for anything else besides that.

And then she had arrived.

While there had been some raised eyebrows at the news that their new FNG would actually be a _Fucking New Girl_ , there had been no noteworthy reactions from the team. They had all served with women before, this was nothing new.

If anything, there was the same curiosity of what she would bring to the team. Everyone brought something new and she would be no different.

Taking weirdly delicate steps that reminded him of a panther prowling only with less killing intent, she was on the short side, with blonde hair up in a ponytail and, after she took off her sunglasses, had eyes as dark as he had ever seen.

Which was surprising with her light skin and equally light hair. But he had found the combination pleasing to the eye. Different but good.

A mission later and she had almost died, survived and then saved all of their asses.

* * *

A/N: Just establishing some things ;)  
I've always found it hilarious that Roach is ALWAYS almost dying. Poor dude, or in this case, dudette :P  
Chapters get more interesting as they move on, though they're just drabbles, more than anything. Will post more soon!


	3. Stones & Rabbits

He'd been dancing around the subject of his past.

How did you tell someone all the cruelties that you had seen, committed and suffered in your life? As much as he wanted to tell her, it wasn't as easy as opening your mouth and telling a story.

So he'd done it indirectly. Arming himself with sarcasm and riding the wave of adrenaline, he had passively aggressively told his story to a bunch of kids that were being held hostage by, well, assholes.

And soon to be dead assholes.

He knew she was hearing the conversation, or at least what he was saying, and he knew that he had to buy time for her and the rest of the team to get where he was and get him, and the kids, out of this mess.

So he was killing two rabbits with one stone.

Possibly even more rabbits. The day was young.

* * *

Later, when he got in the helicopter, he found her impossibly dark eyes on him.

Fighting to beat down the nerves that had risen inside him, he'd sat down beside her, waiting for the rest of the team to arrive from their perimeter check and commented on her life saving skills.

"Sweet snippin' as always, Roach"

Whatever he had been expecting hadn't been Ree grabbing his collar, yanking him forward towards her and kissing him.

Or rather, kissing him through the balaclava. He'd never hated the balaclava before and yet at that very moment, he did.

Releasing his collar, she met his eyes "You're the strongest man I know, Simon. Never doubt that." And tapping his cheek with her hand, she added with a smile, "You're also a bit of an idiot."

After hating the balaclava so fiercely a moment ago, he now thanked the heavens that she couldn't see him gape at her.

He could only blurt, "Do that again? Without the balaclava."

With warmth in her dark eyes, she laughed, "We'll see" and got comfortable in her seat again, eyes flicking to the rest of the team as they approached the helicopter and then towards the window again.

One stone, lots of rabbits, it seemed.

* * *

A/N: Wanted to take advantage of Ghost's comic - the only place where we get to know anything about him, really.  
This is still pre-game.


	4. The Law

"Murphy?" MacTavish asked, puzzled.

The Task Force had briefly worked with another team, and to her surprise, one of her old teammates had been part of it.

After getting greeted with a flat " _Hey Murphy, still alive I see._ " The One Four One had _questions_ . They were really old ladies with nothing to do but gossip sometimes.

She sighed and answered with a question. "What's Murphy's Law?"

That got her a few confused stares, but trusty Scarecrow, nerd extraordinaire, had the answer for that. "Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong."

"There ya have it. I prefer Roach, really."

There was a slight bitterness to those words, she knew. That had been her nickname before, because her constant bad luck on missions quickly became common knowledge in any team she worked with.

They said she was the anti-Lady Luck.

Who knew soldiers could be superstitious? But the truth was many of them didn't like working with her, since _anything that could go wrong, would definitely go wrong_.

"Darlin', they just don't know excellence when they see it." Simon's voice told her steadily.

That bastard could read her like a book. She shook her head with a smile.

"Ghost is right, you know? That you always thrive even when everything goes south only means you're one hell of a soldier. It's one of the reasons you're on The One Four One." MacTavish told her matter-of-factly, with a small smile.

She snorted at that but the words comforted more than she could ever admit.

"I'll make sure you all remember my _excellence_ the next time we almost get killed"

Laughter was the answer she got and there was a smile on Simon's eyes.

* * *

A/N: I've always felt that this was somewhat the subtext of the whole 'Roach that always almost dies but doesn't (until he does)' thing.


	5. January River

"Nikolai! We got her! Get us outta here!"

There were more words but the jump had fucked up her wounds, she was pretty sure she was well on her way to unconsciousness. All her brain power was focused on telling her body to not let go of the rope for _anything_.

Finally, strong harms hauled her into the chopper and laid her down.

Now that she was safe, the adrenaline was making way to the pain she was really feeling. Reality was distorted.

"Fuck. That's a lot of blood. Someone get the med kit asap!" She heard MacTavish yell.

It was bad enough that she could barely think through the pain. She tried to talk and she ended up coughing blood.

"Stay with us Roach. You're getting through this."

Last thing she saw was MacTavish cutting her vest with a knife and Simon appearing with the med kit in his hands.

Everything turned black.

* * *

A/N: After Roach's fantastic tumble in the favela! You can't tell me Roach didn't get shot not even once - the whole favela was raining bullets on the poor dude!  
(also, this part was so fun to play, because I understood everything the dudes were shouting - thus I knew when they were going to throw me a grenade, for example, ahaha!)  
Oh and if you're wondering about the chapter's name, it's just the literal translation of Rio de Janeiro, nothing deep, I'm afraid ;)

And we're finally in the game's timeline!


	6. Natural

Ree flopped on one of the couches on the common area of the 141 Headquarters, "So, _Soap_ huh? What do you make of it?"

"Well, when you take a bath-" Simon's amused answer was promptly cut off when she threw a pillow at his face. Luckily he didn't have his sunglasses on.

"Fuck you." She told him with a roll of her eyes.

"Well…" He wiggled his eyebrows at her and she couldn't help but laugh, "Oh my God, shut it, that was lame."

He shrugged and moved his eyes back to the comic he had been reading. Yeah, the infamous Ghost was a comic lover, who knew?

He answered her question even without looking at her, "Well, MacTavish is all happy to have his mentor back, though I'm not sure if…" He trailed off, looking thoughtful.

"Not sure if he's completely right on the head?" She completed. He turned his eyes to her and nodded slowly.

She sighed, "Yeah, same."

When she continued feeling his eyes on her, she raised an eyebrow in question. "He did give you a wicked shiner, darlin'." He said, expression weirdly torn between a frown and amusement.

She moved her hand up to her face and touched the bruise very softly. It was still sore as hell. "Yeah, the old man still packs a good punch."

Simon's eyes moved from her bruised cheekbone to the stitches in her temple, "And then a piece of wall fell on you…"

She exhaled, "I know, I know, I'm always at the wrong place at the wrong time."

He regarded her silently before putting his comic down on the table, "I wouldn't say that, you just got shit luck."

She snorted and closed her eyes. True enough.

"Want me to kiss it better?" She heard Simon ask in a teasing tone.

She didn't open her eyes but smiled at his jab, "Not sure you can. I don't think you have a face." She threw at him.

"I don't have a-" He started saying, tone offended before cutting himself off and grabbing her waist, pulling her towards him to sit sideways on his lap. He ignored her surprised squeak and scandalised expression. "You've seen my face." He declared matter of factly.

She rolled her eyes at him, but the next moment her expression was solely focused on him. She raised her hands to his balaclava, feeling his cheek, "Did I?"

Now it was his turn to roll his eyes at her. They both knew she had, many of times in fact, but they were both ignoring it.

"Well, how should I know it was you?" She asked, lowering her voice as she gave him a soft kiss on his covered cheek. His hands tightened on her waist.

"You could just check." He said, his voice turning huskier while his eyes burned on hers.

"Hmmm." Her fingers travelled to his nose, down to his lips, jaw and then moved up, grabbing the edge of the balaclava. She paused and looked at him searching for confirmation. When he nodded, she brought the balaclava down to his neck.

Her fingers lazily wandered the path they had before. When she was caressing his slight stubble, marvelling at the light brown, lighter than his hair, she declared in a dreamy voice, "Pretty".

His horrified expression was completely worth it and she found herself laughing hard.

Next she knew, he had grabbed her face, gently, and pressed his lips to hers in a kiss that was both earth-shattering and as natural as breathing.

* * *

A/N: After getting Price from the Gulag.  
( I believe they actually stayed in Russia because the next mission is still in the country so it would make no sense for them to go back and forth, but I do what I want XD)


	7. The Signs

_Fuck everything._

The mission had been a nightmare from the beginning and she had a feeling in her gut that something wasn't right and it was about to go worse.

She reloaded her gun, taking advantage of the tiny pause that Simon had called, to breathe for a bit and analyze her surroundings more carefully.

She noted their number was dwindling. _Compartmentalize, compartmentalize_. She said to herself. _Ignore it, pain is for later._

Next to her, Simon was silent, but there was a palpable agitated feeling about him. Maybe it hadn't been such a good idea to divide the Task Force. Not only Makarov's men knew they were coming and were obviously ready for them, but the man himself was nowhere to be found.

They had found his safehouse and gotten all the information they could from it but the price had been too high and Roach and Ghost barely made it out alive.

She had the DMS with her and Shepherd on their ear asking for it all the goddamn time. Something about it bothered her though she couldn't put her finger on it. Simon's increasingly more pronounced frown every time the General asked for it, told her she wasn't the only one.

It was important, she got it, and it was possibly the only lead they had at the moment on Makarov's whereabouts. But what The Task Force 141 was told to do, they delivered it every damn time, so the need for the General to suddenly start asking about it every 10 seconds like a kid asking for a toy made her wary.

He, more than anyone, should know better.

Simon made the sign for them to continue and she willed herself to focus.

A few minutes later and she wished she had been wrong in her suspicions.

* * *

A/N: This game gets so confusing for Mass Effect fans, like me. You have a Shepherd that is actually Admiral Hackett but like, evil version, and then Anderson as Foley calling you Ramirez and shouting at you to do EVERYTHING. It's a bit disconcerting at first!


	8. Loose Ends

Her breathing was ragged and she could barely see.

She had been shot, she knew, but she had no idea where anymore, there was pain everywhere, no ache stood out.

Simon was half carrying her to Shepherd's chopper in front of them, but she tried her best to keep her gun firmly on her hand. They weren't out of the woods yet and there were still enemies behind them.

"Come on, darlin', just a little more." Simon said between his teeth. His breath was as ragged as hers, he wasn't in much better condition.

There were many other helicopters landing and she could see Shepherd's Shadow Company through the dust in the air. _Why didn't they come before and helped us when we needed it?_

"Do you have the DSM?" Shepherd's voice asked from the chopper.

"Fucking hell," She muttered through her teeth.

"We got it, sir!" She heard Simon answer.

The General approached them and the greedy expression on his face set off alarms in her head. "Good." Shepherd grabbed the DSM from her belt with a violent jerk. She stiffened and felt Simon turning his head to look at her.

When she saw Shepherd reaching for his belt she only had the presence of mind to step on Simon's foot in warning.

"That's one less loose end."

Everything started going in slow motion.

His hand appeared again and it was holding a gun.

He pointed it at her stomach and-

A loud, unmistakable sound.

 _And pain, pain, unbearable pain._

As much as she had been wary and suspicious of the General's behaviour and the whole situation she couldn't quite believe what had just happened.

Ice filled her veins.

She let go of Simon but the hand that had been on Shepherd's shoulder grabbed his jacket with the little strength she had left as she fell.

 _Fucker._

"No!" Simon screamed and raised his gun when he understood what had happened.

She hit the ground and her world exploded in even more pain.

Everything went black.

* * *

A/N: I admit that moment in-game made me look at the screen with my mouth open and absolutely scandalized, and also pissed off, because what an asshole! To just kill me, like that. Jerk.  
I made a few changes, for reasons ;)  
Only one chapter left!


	9. After The End

When she came to, everything was dark.

She struggled to make sense of what had happened and where she was but at the first breath she took, the first movement, she felt only pain.

She must have made some noise because next she knew there was a voice beside where she was lying down, cursing.

She felt something being injected on her arm and the world turned black again.

* * *

They were alive. They were both alive, she and Simon.

Though barely.

They were both in a safehouse of some sort. An old one, not used by anyone anymore, by the looks of it. Half of it was destroyed, walls crumbling, floor filled with debris.

She'd been on the brink of death, Simon told her, and if not for the kindness of a doctor on the nearest village, she would have died for certain. She was still restricted to a cot and couldn't yet make many movements without pain.

Simon wasn't in much better condition, he'd been shot as well, but it had been a graze, and his other wounds were superficial.

He told her what had happened.

That she stepped on his foot in warning and that she had grabbed Shepherd as she fell, making him lose balance, had been what had essentially saved them.

Simon had gotten enough time and warning, and was able to shoot him, though unfortunately he had only gotten his shoulder. There had been a scuffle between them but Simon had managed to incapacitate Shepherd for enough time to make a grab for her and run away.

They had almost been caught by the Shadow Company a few times. She'd been unconscious and Simon was wounded as well, making things more complicated, but Simon's experience had won out in the end.

"Thank you", she said softly kissing his neck. Simon's arms tightened around her but he remained silent. They were both lying down, wrapped in one another.

After a while, she managed to get enough courage to ask, "What about the others, do you know anything?"

He gave a long sigh, breath ruffling the top of her head. "I think they're gone" He said in a low voice, "That fucking traitor was cleaning house." Her hand tightened on his shirt and her eyes closed in pain.

 _Monster._

She gulped, "What...what about MacTavish and Price?" She asked, voice trembling.

"I'm not sure. They tried to warn us on the comm to not trust Shepherd but it was too late. I'm assuming the bloody piece of trash tried to take them out as well." She could feel the tension in his body. He continued, more quietly, "I tried to reach them, after we were both safe, but there was nothing on the other side. I can only hope they escaped somehow. If someone could do it, it would be those two."

She exhaled and silently agreed, trying to hold on to that hope. She may not have known Price for long, but she had heard the stories about him from both Simon and McTavish. That two of the best held him in such high regard only meant he was indeed one of the elite.

From what she and Simon had discussed, Shepherd's betrayal and subsequent _house cleaning_ , as Simon had put it, could only be derivative of greed, which made the whole thing even more disgusting and revolting.

He probably wanted to be the one to kill Makarov and to have the ensuing fame and glory all for himself. Like that's what was important. Piece of shit.

"What will we do?" She wondered out loud.

"We'll disappear." Simon declared sharply.

She leaned her head away from him to look up to his face. "Disappear? But what about-"

He leaned his forehead on hers and closed his eyes as she did the same, "If they're alive, they certainly went underground. There's no way we'll be able to find them. And we can't just try to tell the truth to the important people. The world is a mess right now and it's our word against a General, I'm convinced something would happen, officially or not, to silence us."

"Fucking unfair." She almost spat, feeling anger at how powerless they were against the situation.

Simon sighed dejectedly, "That's the world in one word, darlin'"

They were silent for some time, each lost in their own thoughts of how life had changed so much in so little time and what would be of their future.

Simon leaned away from her and she looked up to see his blue eyes fixed on hers with an earnest expression, "Will you go with me?"

She could almost feel the fragility underneath the question and she wanted nothing more to reassure him that however cruel his prior life had been, she would never add pain to it.

Instead she gave him a warm smile, as best she could at the moment, and answered with feeling, "Of course."

There was relief and gratitude on the kiss he pressed against her forehead before he tucked her in his arms again.

Maybe, just maybe, all the lack of luck, the trials, the blood and the fight they were leaving behind them, had cemented the road for something good.

Time would tell.

* * *

A/N: Probably totally impossible but I don't need more unhappy endings in my life :P I did say this little fic was utterly self indulgent ahaha!  
I usually write a lot more in depth, I have a thing with details, but in this case, I just needed to get it out of my chest so the whole thing isn't, and was never planned to be, very developed.

And this is it! Hope someone enjoyed it, besides me ;)  
Thank you for your time!


End file.
